Man Charged With Murder in Overdose Death of Ailing Wife

SEARLES (AP) -- A Minnesota man accused of removing his ailing wife from a care center, taking her home and holding what he described as a ``death party'' before she died has been charged with murder.

Fifty-eight-year-old Duane Johnson had been charged with criminal neglect in the January death of his wife, Debra Lynn Johnson, at their home in Searles. Brown County prosecutors have now added a third-degree murder charge.

Prosecutors say Johnson told investigators he was fulfilling a promise to his wife that he would not let her die in a nursing home when he removed her from a transitional care facility against medical advice. Authorities say Johnson told them he gave some methamphetamine to his wife because she wanted to party before her death.

A criminal complaint says the 69-year-old woman died of a methamphetamine overdose.